Play Rhyming Reels: Hearts & Tarts for Free

Many people may be familiar with the Queen of Hearts as the bizarrely tyrannical ruler in Lewis Carroll's tale, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. But the character goes back to an old anonymous rhyme in which the Queen of Hearts bakes some tarts, only for a scallywag knave to steal them.

Well, you will find the Queen of Hearts on the reels of this slot machine as well as that rapscallion rogue chomping away on his stolen goods. You'll also find symbols depicting the tasty tarts on a plate and a pair of heart adorned oven mitts. There's also an icon showing a pair of scantily clad waitresses dishing out their heart shaped tarts.

Along with some sultry backing music, such aspects give the overall aesthetic a somewhat sleazy feel – which is a bit weird for a theme based on a children's nursery rhyme. Nonetheless, the game's theme shouldn't be taken too seriously, as it is obviously intended to be a bit tongue in cheek.

The only other symbols of note in Hearts and Tarts are the wild and scatter symbols. The former is represented by the game's logo and it will substitute for all other game icons, excluding the scatter symbol. What's more, this wild icon will double the value of all wins when it is called into play. Even on it's own, this symbol is the most valuable with a five-in-a-row line bet multiplier worth 4,000x. Pretty tasty indeed!

The scatter symbol will pay wins regardless of whether it lines up on a payline. In fact, five crown scatters anywhere on the reels will reward a total bet multiplier worth 200x but you only need to find three of these symbols to unlock the slot machine's main bonus feature of 10 free spins. That may not sound like the most mind-blowing bonus feature in the world of slot machines, but bear in mind that all free spin wins will be doubled. Plus, wild symbols will appear stacked during the free games to offer quadruple wins. As a matter of fact, these free spins could return up to 2,400,000 coins.

Before you tuck into the tasty tarts on offer, you will first have to decide on how much you would like to bet. The maximum bet on offer is 15 coins and the minimum is an itsy-bitsy 0.01. That gives players plenty of scope to play it safe or go risky with some large bets. You can fiddle around with the controls at the bottom of the game screen until your find the bet that best suits your strategy.

The most valuable icon after the wild symbol is the Queen of Hearts, who will pay out a 1,000x line bet multiplier for five on a pay line. Also, she will tend to appear as a stacked symbol during the base game, so there is every possibility that she will come up trumps with a nice big win. Next in line down the pay scale is the knave who pays out 800x. Five waitress icons will reward 600x, the tarts will pay 400x and the oven gloves are worth 200x. The most common, and therefore least valuable symbols are shown as playing card icons – A, K, Q, J, and 10 – with top pay outs ranging from 100x to 30x.

Unfortunately, this slot machine doesn't provide any gamble game. So, you will just have to settle with what you get during the base game and free spins round. The only other gameplay element on offer is found by clicking the “Expert” option at the very bottom of the game screen. This will allow spinners to set up a series of continuous spins, ranging from as little as 5 to 500. There is also an option to stop the autoplay feature if the accrued wins exceed a certain limit.

Rhyming Reels: Hearts and Tarts won't necessarily appeal to every punter. The fact is the theme is a bit muddled and it finds itself somewhere in a weird middle ground which combines elements of a children's nursery rhyme and elements of sultry burlesque. Nonetheless, spinners will be handsomely rewarded if they make it to this slot machine's bonus feature which has a very seductive jackpot of 2,400,000 coins. Given the classic rhyme is English we were not shocked to learn the game has proved most popular in English language based sites though unfortunately clients of South African online casinos are excluded due to local licensing laws.